Tuesday, March 08, 2011

The CEO Has a Daughter: Shrinking the Gender Wage Gap?

Knowledge@Wharton profiles some fascinating new research by David Gaddis Ross, Michael Dahl, and Christian Dezso. They conducted a study in Denmark on the pay gap between men and women in various businesses. Specifically, they examined whether the gap grew or shrunk after a company's CEO had a daughter. They found that the gender wage gap decreased at firms after the CEO welcomed a daughter to the family. The birth of a son did not have a material effect on the pay gap between men and women in the organization. First-born daughters had a more substantial impact than the following children. The study suggests that the birth of a daughter causes a CEO to adopt a different perspective with regard to women in the workforce. The result does not strike me as surprising, but proving the point with data clearly constitutes a major contribution. As someone with two daughters, it certainly makes me consider how my attitudes and actions have changed since their births.

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Michael Roberto

The Great Courses

About Me

I am the Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI. I joined the faculty after serving for six years on the faculty at Harvard Business School.

My research, teaching, and consulting focuses on leadership, with a particular emphasis on decision-making and teams. I have published two books based upon my research: Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes For An Answer (2nd edition to be released in May 2013), and Know What You Don't Know (2009).